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Friday, June 7, 2013

There is nothing like regional rivalries, and in that vein regional soccer news sites goalWA.net and INWsoccernews.com have partnered together to honor the best WPSL team in Washington State in head-to-head competition – the Evergreen Cup.

While the division standings and playoff berths will be determined by overall league play, the introduction of the Evergreen Cup will bring attention and drama to the in-state rivalries between AC Seattle, Emerald City FC, Spokane Shine and the Seattle Reign Reserves presented by Issaquah SC (SRR Issaquah).

“We started the Ruffneck Cup a year ago to recognize the top PDL team from the Puget Sound area and it was a great success, so it was only natural to discuss doing something similar for the four WPSL teams in the state,” said goalWA editor David Falk. “The teams and fans were immediately enthusiastic about the Ruffneck Cup last year, and the 2013 edition kicked off with great anticipation.”

Evergreen Cup was the name voted on by readers of the two news sites, and is representative of the state’s nickname. By utilizing a broader state-wide theme, any future expansion within the state will allow for easy incorporation.

“I think healthy rivalries are essential to growing a dedicated following, something that often times is greatly needed at this level,” said Gerald Barnhart, editor of INWsoccernews. “You could see the seeds of a discontent last year between the three Washington-based sides and the Evergreen Cup will only serve to heighten the importance of each game between the four clubs for everyone involved.”

Largely self-explanatory, the logo for the Evergreen Cup incorporates the colors widely attributed to the northwest region’s forestry and waterways with a hint of beige for the Palouse (wheat) and red for the Yakima Valley (apple), two of the state’s well-known agricultural producers. The three evergreen trees are representative of the original Washington WPSL clubs that began playing one another last year – Emerald City, Issaquah SC and Spokane Shine. The trophy/prize for the event is yet to be finalized.

Retroactively, the Spokane Shine were the inaugural winners of the Evergreen Cup in 2012, a fitting finish for the lone Washington club in the four-team division in 2011. Spokane finished the four-game series against Emerald City and Issaquah 2-0-2 (8 points) last year while the two Seattle-area clubs each finished 0-1-3 (3 points). Despite the gap in points, the competition among the three was incredibly tight with no team scoring more than one goal in any game with a total of eight scored in the six matches.

This year’s competition, which features newcomer and Italian-themed AC Seattle, will not see a repeat of one-goal affairs as the series of a dozen matches kicked off last week with SRR Issaquah blanking nearby rival Emerald City 3-0. The event will hit a peak in the middle of the schedule when there will be three consecutive days of Evergreen Cup matches, four games in total, in the greater-Seattle area from June 13-15. [See standings below]

About goalWA.net
The site is operated by fans and supporters of the game in the Evergreen State. We live the sport, love the sport, play the sport, watch the sport, and support the sport through our local clubs and soccer communities.

About INWsoccernews.com
Inland Northwest Soccer News is a regional soccer news site that covers the region from the east side of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon and into Idaho and Montana with a heavy focus on the WPSL and collegiate soccer, an area largely ignored by most media unlike the greater-Seattle and Portland markets on the west side of the mountains. Run by a longtime lower division administrator, the site also provides regular national coverage of the NASL, USL Pro and the MLS Reserve League.